Centered on Truth-{Monday Manna}

Joanne at An Open Book is hosting Monday Manna today. The passage of scripture to reflect upon and discuss is Ephesians 6:14-18.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints(NKJV)

These verses list parts of the armor that God has made available to every believer. Growing up in church, I had heard these scriptures quoted often but it wasn’t until a few years ago that I got a clearer picture of how one actual goes about putting on this armor. In our lives, we get dressed daily and choose our clothing based upon our intended destination. At least that’s what I do. There are some clothes I deem unfit to wear any where but around the house. Because of good old-fashioned home teaching and personal standards, you will not find me at the grocery store in my pajamas.

Unlike our natural garments, the armor of God is suitable to wear on every occasion. Not only is it suitable to wear but it’s advantageous for us to apply it every day. Why? Because our daily destinations are filled with opposing powers, principalities, rulers of darkness, and spiritual host of wickedness.

No matter how full our closets are our clothes just don’t jump on us. We have to take the time and effort to get dressed. As I was reading this passage, I noticed how each piece of the armor was preceded by a verb.  Verbs denote action. The armor is provided by God but the action to put it in use is required by us. Nope, He’s not coming down to dress me or you; the garments have already been issued. If a piece is missing or not in its proper place or good condition, it’s because we’ve neglected to see and handle it as significant piece of our lives.

Also, I took notice of the order the pieces of armor were mentioned in the passage. It starts off with the belt of truth  buckled around our waist. Belts are what I consider as accessories, which are some of the last things you add to make your outfit complete. Yet here we see the waist, which is the center of our body, being address first. Could it be because our lives need to be centered on Truth? If, I don’t know the Truth-God and His Word, my life is based upon lies. Lies pervert or twist the truth. So, if truth is not firmly buckled around the center of my life, I have a twisted sense of righteousness called self-righteousness. My feet, more than likely, will be quick to pursue chaos rather than spreading peace. Rather than trusting God, I’ll only have faith in my ability to get things done. Because my mind would be filled with deceptive thoughts, the words wielding from my mouth would be anything but the Word of God. Although the belt of truth is only one part of the whole armor, it appears to me that it is necessary in order to properly apply the rest of the pieces.

You didn’t forget to put your belt of truth on today, did you?

Share your thoughts on this  scripture passage in the comments or write a post on your blog and link up with Joanne.